Birthday fun!

Eloy's first birthday party was such great fun! Around 50 or so people joined us in the new Oxford House location and helped us celebrate this very special event.

The organizing of this party began a few months ago when Aunty Lizzy was roped in to help arrange and execute "The Event of the Year"! She and Uncle Stephane arrived a day early to do the shopping and cooking and on the day of the party worked tirelessly to help set-up, entertain and clean-up. Having them with us that weekend was the most wonderful present of all!

The new branch of Oxford House Barcelona was the perfect location for Eloy's party. It is new and clean and still quite empty so it was easy to decorate and child-proof. We hung 24 metres of rainbow streamers from the roof and blew up 35 helium balloons. In the entrance there was a photo display with all our favourite photos of Eloy, his family and friends that were taken over the last year. These was blu-tacked on to a banner and the guests could take away their favourite photos on their way out. One of the classrooms was turned into a cloakroom and pram parking-lot! The biggest room in the middle was converted into the main party area with tables for food and lots of space and things for the kids to play with.

The carefully planned menu included delicious, organic and baby-friendly foods: colourful dips, bread, assorted sandwiches, spinach and feta pastries, and pao de queijo. Claire and her friends took care of the birthday cake - a Women's Weekly masterpiece (see photos!). Paulo took care of the drinks - juice and water for the kids, and plenty of wine and cava for the adults!

There were baskets of toys and musical instruments to play with, a table with paper and crayons for guests for guests to leave special messages for Eloy, bubble blowing on the patio, face-painting and a big tunnel of brightly coloured boxes (huge hit with the kids). To top it all off, Uncle Stephane dressed-up as a clown and gave an impressive performance which left everyone amazed.

One of the best parts of the party was, without a doubt, the group sing-a-long. All the parents and kids sat in a big circle on the floor and sang songs together in English, Portuguese and Catalan. It ended with an emotional round of "Happy Birthday" which made Eloy's Mummy tear up as she looked at her little baby and realized that he was now a little boy!!

Instead of presents, people with kids were invited to bring along an old toy to swap for a different one. This way, every child went home with a present!

All in all, it was an afternoon to remember ...and be repeated again next year. We hope you can be there with us! xx